Mmm. I am utterly pleased with myself. I hold my newly bought package in my arms as I walk down the streets. This should be enough to last me a while....

When suddenly, I catch a glimpse of someone familiar*.

... Very familiar.

(Of all the people!)

"Yamazaki, care to explain what the hell is going on with the fucking ninja stalkers?"

Well, I'm not THAT angry over that incident yesterday morning.

But I'd like to know exactly what's going on.

* permission given to spot susu

After leaving the shack, Okita-sensei suggested that we return to his dojo to better attend to Shura's wounds and while that was quite a solid idea, there were other problems with following it through. Such as I too was being followed and neither even knew about it yet. So on top of Shura's problems, I was mixing mine own in here as well.

I gave Okita-sensei some quick response and through the doubtful look he agreed. I could tell that he knew there was another reason and had stored his questions for later use. So the question came up again as we traversed through the forest, where to take the injured woman? I thought of the answer immediately after the question… where better to hide from the criminals and ruffians, than in the place that breeds and gives life to them?

( Through the depths of darkness )

Through my steady work pace, I ask what I am sure was both on mine and Okita-sensei's mind, "Who is after you, Shura-san?"

((Permission to open the Kite & use of Kibagami-san granted by player. Direction of Shura and OKita granted by respective players.))

After leaving Shura, I head to the only place I know that can help her… the Gensai Clinic. However, once I reach the gates, the quite stillness lets me know that there is no one there and I wonder if maybe, just maybe I really can come back to this place. Being a doctor was something that—never mind, such frivolous thoughts would get me killed.

If Gensai-sensei and Megumi-san were not here, then there should be someone nearby that can help right? But who is someone that Shura trusts? I do not know her well enough to even know what her problems are and if I left a note here, would those chasing her find her easier?

Ugh… I’m going to have to leap the gate. How bothersome…

I walk around the clinic so the neighbors do not think that someone odd (me) is trying to break into the building, even though that was exactly what I was doing. Still it would give the good doctors a bad reputation if something shady were happening around this place, so I have to be extra careful in my entrance.

I choose a spot where there were less chances of me being seen and quickly scale the wall into the yard of the clinic. I rush towards the kitchen, where my original note still lay untouched, and left another note to be found.

I ran into a woman named, Shura, who was injured. I fixed her up as best as I could with my limited supplies, but left her in a secluded cabin off the river, not far from here. It seems that she is in some sort of trouble, so I did not wish to bring her here and have her troubles come towards you. However, if you can stop by and assist her somewhat, that would be wonderful if not… I might as to purchase some supplies from you to use on her.

I hesitated signing the note this time. A few more seconds passed before I scrawled my sur name on the note and leaving the same way I came in.

((Susumu exits.))

He left me.

Left me half-naked and tied to a bed with no means of defending myself.

Well, it's not like I could defend myself anyways.

Not in this condition.

But still...HE LEFT ME!

I have no clue where I am at or what time of day it is.

Not that it matters.

I can't say that I blame him for leaving me, not after I pulled that knife on him.

But I sort of wish he would come back and do whatever he did the last time to render me unconscious.

It hurts.

A lot.

I stare up at the ceiling, feeling extremely tired yet unable to sleep.

I wonder what happens if I need to use the bathroom?

I close my eyes once more.

((As you may already know, Shura is located here. Anyone can stumble upon her, using a little creativity of course.))

I do not know where Susumu plans on taking me.

All I can hear is the rustling of trees surrounding us.

My breathing has become shallow and my eyelids are starting to grow heavy.

Perhaps I will be seeing my father again sooner than I anticipated.

I tighten my grip around his neck, allowing my right arm to dangle lifelessly at my side.

At least I won't be...alone.

Then, I suddenly start to vomit.

It tastes like...blood.

I wince as I throw the last piece of driftwood into the fire, watching numbly as the flames dance against the backdrop of the roaring ocean. A part of me wants to look away, but I don't. Even when the stench of burning flesh causes me to vomit, or when the pain in my shoulder is so intense that I could pass out, I keep my eyes fixated on that fire.

I will see this through to the end.

I stay like that until I'm so weak that I can no longer stand. Finally, I stagger over to a large rock, kicking the sand as I move along to cover up the trail of blood that I leave behind me.

There will be no evidence of the events that have transpired on this night.

I slump down against the rock and start running my hands down my shirt, looking for one area that isn't drenched in blood. Most of it is mine, but some...

...isn't.

((Shura is having herself a nice little bonfire. Feel free to join her, toast some marshmallows, etc.))

After Sawagejou-san dropped me off at my sister’s shop, I managed to locate up a few items that I assumed I would need as I took to the streets again. It was not much, just a pouch that I had transferred the money from earlier and a kitchen knife from her back room, the same one she had used upon her hair the day before. With my weapons and money pouch tucked away safely I caroused through the streets my next destination clear, the Kamiya Dojo.

In hindsight, I was hungry. I was also tired beyond rational and highly irritable, however I was mainly hungry. Still my cantankerous state was slowly pushed further by one very disturbing thought: they were awake.

Beyond the shut gates of the Kamiya compound, the flicker of lights poured over giving the home a warm glow. Just seeing the lights dance along the plaster edges causes my lips to twist into an ugly frown. Beyond those high walls was a demon that slithered across the grounds of this sacred place, consuming all that it touched. He had consumed Kaoru-san and destroyed the sanctity of Kamiya-sensei’s home.

That pissed me off even more.

In hindsight, I was hungry.

The rattling of the gate doors still rings in my ears. The fury with which I stabbed the door with, still courses through me. However, I do not wait to contemplate my actions instead choosing to flee from the scene. I was penniless and with one less kitchen knife; furious but oddly satisfied.

((Susumu exits thread. On the gate door there is a money pouch, a knife pilfered from the Gensei Clinic, and a note. Also the noise of the door shaking with the force can be heard by all current dojo threads, so if you wish to hear it you can.))

As I watched the mountainous man leave, the weight of the fever came back full force as my adrenaline ebbed. It took every last bit of strength that I had to slide back into the tub of freezing water as my bones and muscles groaned in protest to the movement. It was quite possible that the water was not nearly as cold as I imagined it to be, however, through the heat coursing inside and the fright that I had earlier, it may have been lukewarm but I would have thought it to be freezing.

Though I tried not to think of the other instance where I such cold water had embraced me, it was hard not to remember the feeling of the cold liquid seep through my mouth and nose. I managed to quell the fear that ran up my spine and yelled at me to move out of the water as I sit and stare past the grains in the wood floors imagining something far less disturbing. Again, I twisted my thoughts around last night and I feel my heart beat move faster with each pounding thought. I had been wrong... the person that I had thought was untouchable was dead... Kamiya-sesensi could rest in peace... sort of...

( ”Lamentations” )

What a pathetic fate.

"I am going to kill you."

"That won't work against me."

"You, better than anyone, should know this."

"You know what I am capable of."

"Why? Do you even need to ask?"

"You know why."

"I won't hold back. The monster grows inside me. Someday, when it has grown to its full extent, it shall devour me whole, from within. But I am ready for it. I will be waiting, and when that time comes --"

DIE


My hands are sticky and somehow it feels I'm running in a dream. I am gasping for air like a fish, like one of the many fish they cut up in the kitchen or cook and watch their tails curl and it's really very strange. When did my hair get so disheveled?

I wash my hands in a nearby pool. Sticky. Sticky and warm. But the water is cold and crisp. I am thankful for it. Water is life. I dry my hands on my hakama.

It is really quite strange. They're so sticky. Sticky and disgusting. It is an unfamiliar feeling.

I think: Someday, I will finish this. Someday soon. Then I will be free...

But for now I must hurry back to the Kite.

*exits*